News about the assassination of martyr Captain Muadh al-Kasasbeh by the terrorist organization Daesh (ISIS) has captured the attention of local, Arab, and international media outlets. The coverage involved a lot of ethical and humanitarian professional issues in view of the tragic scenes of the horrific act, which the world has described as savage and barbaric. 
Since the terrorist organization released the pictures and videos, the Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor (AKEED) has been following a number of media outlets and how they handled the case, particularly international and Arab satellite stations, newspapers and websites, as well as public reactions on social media sites. This is based on the fundamental professional and ethical principles that newsrooms in well-established media outlets have agreed on when covering such situations, most important of which are the following:

• Protecting the dignity of victims and their parents and not showing them in a harsh, graphic, or agonizing manner.
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  Balancing the right of the public to know and freedom of expression on the one hand and ethical, professional and humanitarian values on the other.
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  Making sure that the news will not turn into simply repeating the propaganda of terrorists and disseminating their messages to the public at the expense of newsworthiness.

Local Coverage: Commitment and Lack of Control

AKEED has observed that many electronic media outlets were careful and handled the news professionally. They played their role while demonstrating a high measure of professionalism. However, other websites hastened to secure a scoop at the expense of professional and ethical considerations and public interest. They did not heed humanitarian and ethical aspects when posting such horrific pictures and footage.

Thus, footage of the assassination and pictures of martyr First Lieutenant Muadh al-Kasasbeh in his last moments while wearing an orange jumpsuit took center stage in the articles published by these websites. Some media outlets went as far as brushing aside all ethical codes by publishing the entire gruesome video, which is not newsworthy except for confirming the crime. Republishing the video is in line with the objectives of the terrorist organization in disseminating its destructive propaganda.

The footage was crudely repeated on social media sites. Pictures of the burning and assassination videos dominated these pages. Thus, the media are faced with the mission of building a media culture and educating the public by reminding people of the ethics of using these sites.

AKEED has monitored dozens of pictures and videos carried by local websites in spite of their graphic nature. However, these websites later removed them. AKEED will refrain from providing links to the websites that posted these pictures in line with the ethical standards observed by the Monitor. In spite of the removal, the damage has already been done and the public has had access to the pictures and shared them with others.

AKEED has also observed professional and ethical violations in the way some websites and users on social media sites published pictures of the parents and family of the martyr at moments that are usually described as times of human weakness, which the media should not exploit. Some sites and social media users posted pictures of the mother of the martyr while in hospital. Such pictures do not have any professional or ethical justification.

Respecting the dignity of human beings, alive and dead, is the core of the work of journalists. A media outlet must bear in mind that these scenes have agonizing psychological effects on viewers, especially the parents and acquaintances of the victim, and contribute to disseminating the propaganda of terrorists and their hidden messages, which could be contained in these pictures, videos, or audio clips.

Reading the Jordanian dailies, AKEED observed that they were stricter in applying ethical principles. The newspapers today, Wednesday, carried the pictures of martyr Muadh in military uniform and in his best looks. Thus, they took an ethical, professional, and humanitarian position to alleviate the damage and show Muadh in the way that his family is satisfied with and that the public accepts.

Coverage on the International Level: Reputable Professionalism and Mysterious Agendas

International professional practices in handling such cases, when the hostage or prisoner is executed or killed in any manner, confirm not publishing pictures or video clips pertaining to this act. In fact, they may not appear in the media at all.

While major US media outlets refrained from broadcasting the video, Fox News Channel posted the entire video on its website with the following banner to viewers: "Warning: Extremely Graphic Video." In a written statement released by the channel, John Moody, executive editor of the channel, justified posting the video by saying: "We decided to give readers of FoxNews.com the option to see for themselves the barbarity of ISIS…Online users can choose to view or not view this disturbing content." The station also carried long excerpts of the video during its broadcasts.

AKEED has observed that the British BBC and the American CNN stations were committed to not showing any material attributed to the organization. They published pictures of the heroic pilot in normal situations prior to the kidnapping. Thus, they denied the organization the chance to disseminate its propaganda. They also mitigated the shock and pain caused by such scenes.

Tony Maddox, director of CNN, said in an interview broadcast by the station, while commenting on the fact that the station did not show the video of the assassination of martyr Muadh, that "it is necessary sometimes to show pictures or a clip of the video to serve the purpose of the story or article…But in this case (Jordanian pilot), we did not see any editorial necessity. The aim of ISIS is propaganda."

He added: We should have basic guidelines to refer to under such circumstances, and these should be flexible, depending on the topic. He affirmed that "the first duty that governs our relationship with our audience is presenting the story and how we interpret it. Secondly, we do not want to be a part of any organization, in this case ISIS." Maddox stressed that "we in (CNN) do not want them to lead our editorial agenda. We have to control it as much as we can."

The New York Times raised questions in a report it ran on media outlets publishing the horrific pictures of the assassination of al-Kasasbeh. The newspaper referred to the way in which some international media outlets handled the news, saying that some of them published pictures of flames surrounding Muadh, while others only published his picture standing in front of a group of masked gunmen. Some other media outlets published a picture of Muadh inside the cage, while other media outlets published pictures of the family and friends of the martyr carrying pictures of Muadh and demanding his release.

The newspaper quoted Bruce Shapiro, executive director at the American Columbia University, as saying that "publishing pictures and videos that include gruesome scenes released by the organization does not have great value from the news perspective." Shapiro adds: "Publishing the pictures causes grief for everyone who knows al-Kasasbeh. It also achieves the aim of the terrorist organization of publishing them."

The British newspaper The Guardian published a picture of First Lieutenant Muadh al-Kasasbeh in military uniform on its first page. In covering the event, Reuters showed a picture of a previous demonstration by his family members while carrying his picture and demanding his release. The Associated Press used a similar picture for the story it published.

Daily News warned readers about the content of the pictures, but the newspaper published pictures of the burning as is without blurring them.

Arab Coverage: Variation and Confusion

Al Arabiya Channel published parts of the video released by the organization, which is almost 22 minutes, especially when the martyr stood wearing orange in a yard, with a group of gunmen behind him, and his picture while looking around with bruises visible on his face, besides some audio clips for him that were muted by the station.

Al Jazeera also published previously circulating pictures of martyr al-Kasasbeh when he was captured, and the picture released by the organization while he was wearing an orange jumpsuit. It then published clips of the video released by the organization, showing al-Kasasbeh in his last moments and the moment in which a member of the organization lights the fire. Al Jazeera.net posted pictures of al-Kasasbeh in the cage prior to catching fire.

Sky News station published parts of the video when al-Kasasbeh was in the cage while flames were getting close to him.

The Egyptian channel Al Youm, on the show of Amr Adeeb "Cairo Today," aired clips of the video, in which it showed the moment martyr al-Kasasbeh was on fire, with the voice of Amr Adeeb speaking about Islamic groups and the Muslim Brotherhood and linking the video to what is currently happening in Egypt. He said: "You have to see and know what these Islamic groups are doing." He added: "Our martyrs died in Sinai at the hands of Daesh"s branch in Egypt." The important thing is that the channel broadcast most of the video, while in the repeat broadcast, it covered scenes of the burning.

AKEED had published a report headlined "Media Coverage of Issues of Prisoners and Hostages," which included a number of guidelines developed by the Monitor for media outlets, journalists and activists on social media networks. The guidelines identify the best practices in media handling of issues of prisoners, hostages, and messages of terrorist groups. These practices are derived from a number of journalistic think tanks worldwide and independent media establishments, which AKEED contacted to prepare this report.

Since terrorist organizations do not heed ethical and humanitarian aspects in dealing with hostages, the media, in such cases, must be strict in applying professional and ethical standards more so than at any other time to minimize the damage as much as possible.

Journalists must also remain alert to any new details or developments in the situation. However, publishing them has to depend on their newsworthiness. One should be careful not to publish or broadcast news only to draw the attention of the audience and have more people follow the media outlet; this practice is categorized as "deceptive and misleading."

One aspect that the report highlighted is conveying the messages of terrorists in cases of captivity or abduction as terrorist groups follow the media and look for outlets to convey their messages. In fact, they use times of crises and take advantage of the thirst of the public for information by passing their messages, ideology, and propaganda through information, positions and codes. This requires that the media show concern about professionalism and not turn into a platform for conveying the messages of terrorists without being aware of it.

Professional and ethical responsibility requires that media outlets refrain from publishing or airing messages of terrorist groups live while tackling a security crisis.

News about these groups should be covered if it is worthy by giving a brief idea about their messages or news and reformulating them because giving space to terrorist or criminal groups would boost their morale, complicate the situation, and put the life of the audience at a greater risk.

The media should avoid publishing news of a propaganda nature, which kidnappers seek to promote, including pictures, threats, and videos.

The maximum degree of caution has to be exercised when presenting material or interviews that could include views of persons, organizations or groups that use violence or criminal activities or call for violence or promote it. When making an editorial decision to publish or broadcast material released by these groups, one has to make sure that it is a news item, and not propaganda, and that it will not serve the objectives of terrorists.

As for the key rule, according to AKEED, it is not to publish pictures or videos of a hostage or kidnapped person while in a state of weakness in the hands of his captors. However, media outlets are sometimes forced to publish the picture of a kidnapped person, but this should be based on certain criteria, most important of which are the following:

- Publishing the picture that confirms the kidnapping to achieve credibility and not carrying it during newscasts repeatedly. 
- Showing the face of the hostage only and covering the other parts of his body if he is naked or in a degrading manner. 
- In the event of repeating the news story, the picture of the hostage in his normal condition prior to the kidnapping should be shown. 
- Not publishing pictures and videos through which the kidnappers or those holding the hostage try to promote their ideology. They usually show the person in a degrading manner and seek to create panic and alarm in the hearts of viewers.

The media should always raise questions about the extent of damage that publishing such pictures could do to the families and relatives of the hostage and about the newsworthiness of such pictures and videos and how vulnerable segments, especially children, can be protected from such scenes.

In the event of the execution or murder of the hostage or prisoner in any manner, these pictures and video clips should not be published in the first place and should not appear in the media. Respecting the dignity of human beings, alive and dead, is the core of the work of journalists. Media outlets should remember that these scenes have agonizing psychological effects on viewers, especially the parents and acquaintances of the victim, and help give power to terrorists.